Principals

1. Trump in Saudi Arabia
2. Committee tax vote
3. ‘MAGA account’ origins
4. Dems’ GOP tax attack
5. Clean energy cuts
6. Tariff case
7. Counter-China bill
8. DNC moves to oust Hogg

PDB: Trump suggests he might join Russia-Ukraine peace talks

US releases CPI report … Bloomberg: Trump’s $2 trillion hurdle in Riyadh … S&P 500 futures ⬇️ 0.30%

Early AI success for Trump in Saudi

US-Saudi business ties are in the spotlight with President Donald Trump addressing a summit of executives in Riyadh on the first day of his Gulf tour. The kingdom has pledged $600 billion in investment and trade with the US over the course of Trump’s term, but the president wants that figure bumped up to $1 trillion: Semafor scooped an early success for Trump, with a new Saudi AI company backed by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund picking a California chipmaker to help power its work. Trump has also pressed Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers to ramp up output in order to slash domestic US gas prices, demands that partly explain the OPEC+ grouping expanding production recently. Upon his arrival earlier today, Trump was greeted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

House GOP races to tax vote

House Republicans are racing toward a committee vote on the bulk of their tax bill this afternoon even as key questions remain unanswered. Text released Monday would extend expiring tax cuts and enact new proposals championed by Trump — including no tax on tips, overtime and interest on loans for American-made cars. It even includes a particularly pricey provision that would allow manufacturers to deduct 100% of their costs to build new factories. But Republicans need almost every vote to pass the legislation on the House floor, and lawmakers still haven’t reached consensus on key issues like state and local tax deductions. The new text would raise the cap to $30,000 — a nonstarter for moderates like Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who was quick to slam the proposal and said he expects negotiations to continue into the week.

— Eleanor Mueller

Cruz’s MAGA (accounts) moment

It’s been a journey from “Invest America” to “MAGA accounts,” but Ted Cruz doesn’t mind: “You can call it anything you like. What is powerful is enabling every child in America to have an investment account and a stake in the American free enterprise system,” he told Burgess Everett on Monday evening. Cruz’s big idea — which Principals readers heard about last week — is to give newborns $1,000 accounts that essentially function like 401ks for kids. It’s got backing from big business, philanthropy … and Trump. It’s too early for Cruz to spike the football; the bill still has to get through the House and the Senate. But he’s celebrating the inclusion of his proposal in the Ways and Means package, both to help fight “socialism” and help kids have their own nest eggs.

Democrats’ plan of attack against tax bill

The top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Richie Neal of Massachusetts, plans to target the GOP’s conflicting messaging over its tax bill at today’s committee vote, he told Semafor Monday. That includes the legislation’s failure to raise taxes on the highest-earning Americans and venture capitalists — “we could reach a deal with them on probably 98% of all this, we just object to the idea that the rich aren’t paying more” — and its ballooning effect on the federal deficit. “I’m astounded how they’ve rejected general Republican orthodoxy about balanced budgets and all of those things, and embraced this populist fervor that just doesn’t square with mathematics,” he said. Neal added that he expects House Republicans who have expressed concerns to “all fold” once Trump amps up the pressure — but said “the Senate is going to crush what they want to do.”

GOP holds off on crushing wind, solar

House Republicans are narrowing in on a compromise within the party over the fate of some clean energy tax credits, and it’s less extreme than the wind and solar industries’ worst fears. Draft budget legislation released Monday targets nearly all of the clean energy tax credits in the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. Some of the proposed cuts, especially to EV credits, have been long-anticipated. On others, including credits for hydrogen and nuclear power, the draft takes a more aggressive posture than what will likely be able to survive scrutiny by more moderate Republicans in the House and Senate. But on the so-called “tech-neutral” credits that primarily benefit wind and solar, a consensus is forming around the idea that they should be phased out earlier than originally planned but not killed overnight, Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., told Semafor.

— Tim McDonnell

Court hears challenge to Trump tariffs

Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs will face a big court test today, when a three-judge panel on an obscure court in Manhattan hears a challenge from small businesses to the sweeping levies announced in April. The case before the Court of International Trade — among a handful challenging the tariffs — was brought by a New York-based wine distributor and four other businesses represented by the libertarian Liberty Justice Center. They argue that Trump lacks authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to implement across-the-board tariffs, and that his justification of an “emergency” didn’t meet the standards under the law, claims the Justice Department has disputed. Even though Trump has paused steeper tariffs on select nations and lowered duties on China for the time being, the case could carry big implications for his broader strategy and the 10% universal tariffs that remain.

Bipartisan bill would push back on China

Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate tell Semafor they plan to introduce a new bill today that would seek to limit China’s reach by strengthening the US’ relationships with the Pacific Islands. “Supporting our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific is essential to combatting the Chinese Communist Party’s influence and to our long-term national security,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. She’s sponsoring the legislation alongside Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa and Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, plus Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, the Republican delegate from American Samoa. The measure would direct the executive branch to develop a formal strategy for engaging the islands and empower it to extend them some diplomatic immunities, among other things.

— Eleanor Mueller

DNC considers revote for Hogg’s job

The DNC will debate whether to hold re-votes for two vice chair positions, after the party’s credentials committee approved a challenge to the Feb. 1 election won by David Hogg and Malcolm Kenyatta. The challenge, first reported by Semafor last month, is not related to Hogg’s PAC and its plan to challenge some underperforming Democratic incumbents, a source of controversy inside the party. It was brought by a female candidate who lost the five-way final vote for vice chair slots, where Hogg and Kenyatta, both male, prevailed over three women. Hogg and Kenyatta will remain in their roles and can compete if the DNC sets a new election, but Hogg said that the party had taken “the first steps to remove me from my position.” Kenyatta wrote on X that the conflict was “not about [Hogg], even though he clearly wants it to be.”

— David Weigel

Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller will sit down with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis for a timely discussion about the future of innovation and regulation in the digital asset space. Join us at the ‘Stand With Crypto Day’ Reception this Wednesday, May 14, in Washington, DC. RSVP here.

Blindspot: Planned Parenthood and Hegseth

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: The House GOP’s reconciliation bill would cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood.

What the Right isn’t reading: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was accused of plagiarizing his senior thesis at Princeton University.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to place holds on President Trump’s political nominees to Justice Department roles following news that the president plans to accept a luxury jet as a gift from Qatar’s royal family.

Playbook: DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has traded her Trump resistance for a strategy that involves avoiding public skirmishes with the White House and seeking to tackle “shared priorities” with the new administration.

Axios: In 2023 and 2024, then-President Biden’s aides discussed the possibility he might need to use a wheelchair if reelected to a second term, a new book from journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson says.

WaPo: A new eight-figure ad campaign against efforts to cut clean-energy tax credits is launching today targeting Republican members in districts with heavy reliance on clean-energy jobs, including in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Colorado, Michigan, Arizona and Iowa.

White House

• President Trump said he may join Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Turkey later this week. “I’ve got so many meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there,” he told reporters.

Executive Orders

• President Trump signed an executive order aimed at cutting prescription drug costs, though experts questioned its scope and efficacy, Semafor’s Mathias Hammer reports.

Outside the Beltway

• A sweeping bill passed by the Texas state Senate to crack down on abortion medication access contains an unusual provision that says it can’t be challenged in state court. — Texas Tribune
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom upped the pressure on local governments to sweep homeless encampments, unveiling a template order they can use to clear the streets.

Economy

• The US brought in a monthly record of $16.3 billion in customs duties last month — $7.6 billion more than it did in March — reflecting a significant ramp up in revenue from tariffs.

Polls

• New Gallup polling shows that US adults — 43% — are more likely to turn to family and friends for financial advice and information than any other resource; another 41% said they seek advice via financial advisers and planners.

National Security

• The Pentagon told Congress that it spent upwards of $21 million moving undocumented migrants to Guantanamo Bay earlier this year. The military prison currently holds only 32 migrants, a fraction of the 30,000 President Trump said it would.

Foreign Policy

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his Chinese counterpart, Lan Fo’an, met quietly in the IMF basement three weeks ago, an encounter that helped lay the groundwork for a trade truce announced early Monday. — FT
• Hamas released the last living American hostage being held in Gaza, Edan Alexander, based on an agreement reached with the US that “largely circumvented the Israeli government.” — NYT

Immigration

• Roughly 50 White South Africans landed in the US to be resettled as refugees under a program meant for individuals fleeing war or persecution, though the Trump administration has suspended US refugee admissions for all other groups.
• The Trump administration ended temporary protected status for Afghans.

Technology

• Apple is still considering raising prices on new iPhones, despite developments in US-China trade negotiations. — WSJ

Media

• The White House Correspondents’ Association slammed the Trump administration for excluding wire service reporters from President Trump’s Air Force One flight to the Middle East. “Leaving out the wires is a disservice to Americans who need news about their president, especially on foreign trips where anything could happen and the consequences can impact the entire world,” WHCA President Eugene Daniels said.

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

And Graph Massara, copy editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

A large screen showing President Donald Trump shaking the hand of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud welcomes attendees at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in the Riyadh Ritz Carlton.